Ethiopian Revolution

Ethiopian Revolution
Part of Opposition to Haile Selassie
Clockwise from top: The Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces (Derg); the 1974 coup d'état of Haile Selassie; Public demonstration on 24 August 1974
Date	12 January – 12 September 1974 (8 months)
Location	Ethiopian Empire
Caused by	Discontent with Haile Selassie government's maintaining of a feudal policy 1973–1975 Wollo famine 1973 oil crisis Inflation
Goals	Human rights, social change, agrarian and land reforms, price controls, free schooling, releasing political prisoners
Methods	Mutiny Political demonstrations
Resulted in	Haile Selassie deposed by the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police and Territorial Army on 12 September 1974 Establishment of the Provisional Military Administrative Council (Derg) that ruled Ethiopia by decree until 1987 Beginning of the Ethiopian Civil War

The Ethiopian Revolution (Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ አብዮት; 12 January – 12 September 1974) was a period of civil, police and military upheaval in Ethiopia to protest against the weakened Haile Selassie government. It is generally thought to have begun on 12 January 1974 when Ethiopian soldiers began a rebellion in Negele Borana, with the protests continuing into February 1974. People from different occupations, starting from junior army officers, students and teachers, and taxi drivers, joined a strike to demand human rights, social change, agrarian reforms, price controls, free schooling, and releasing political prisoners, and labor unions demanded a fixation of wages in accordance with price indexes, as well as pensions for workers, etc.

In June 1974, a group of army officers established the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, later branding itself as the Derg, which struggled to topple Haile Selassie's cabinet under Prime Minister Endelkachew Makonnen. By September of that year, the Derg began detaining Endalkachew's closest advisors, dissolved the Crown Council and Imperial Court and disbanded the emperor's military staff. The Ethiopian Revolution ended with the 12 September coup d'état of Haile Selassie by the Coordinating Committee.